Baby carriages are generally used to take out babies/children to the outdoors for a walk, shopping, and the like. Various baby carriages to easily fold up, store and carry, are proposed and put into practical use.
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a baby carriage that can be folded up as mentioned above. This baby carriage 10 comprises a pair of left and right front legs 12 that have front wheels 11, a pair of left and right rear legs 14 that have rear wheels 13, a hand-pushing rod 15 that is bent to a nearly U-shape, a pair of left and right arm rests 16, and a detachable guard arm 17 that is placed across both arm rests 16 and 16. One end of each arm rest 16 is fitted to a portion near an end of left and right pipes 18 of the hand-pushing rod 15, and a top and of each front leg 12 is fitted to another end of each arm rest 16. Top ends of the left and right rear legs 14 are also fitted to intermediate portions of the arm rests 16, respectively. One end of a bracket 19 that is bent in a dog leg shape is fitted to an intermediate portion of a corresponding rear leg 14. The ends of the left and right pipes 19 of the hand-pushing rod 15 are fitted to intermediate positions of the brackets 19. When the baby carriage is unfolded, lock members 20 installed movably at the lower ends of the pipes 18 engage with engaging portions formed at other ends of the brackets 19 and an unfolded state is maintained.
On the other hand, the left and right front legs 12 are connected with a front side connecting bar 21, and the left and right rear legs 14 are connected with a rear side connecting bar 22. Further, a front end of a connecting bar 23 is fitted to an intermediate portion of a corresponding front leg 12, and a rear end of this connecting bar 23 is fitted to an end of a corresponding pipe 18 together with a corresponding bracket 19. Further, an upper side connecting bar 24 is connected to intermediate portions of left and right connecting bars 23.
As illustrated in FIG. 11, when the locking members 20 provided at the lower ends of the pipes 18 are engaged with the engaging portions provided at the upper ends of the brackets 19, the baby carriage is held in a usable unfolded state. On the other hand, when the locking members 20 are disengaged from the brackets 19 by operating an operating device 25 provided at the hand-pushing rod 15, the arm rests 16 and the connecting bars 23 became movable upwardly from the pipes 18 and connecting points, and the front legs 12 and the rear legs 14 are moved almost in parallel with each other and the baby carriage can be folded to be easily carried.
The hand-pushing rod 15, the front side connecting bar 21, the rear side connecting bar 22 and the upper side connecting bar 24 can be folded by joints at two points of intermediate portions in two vertical surfaces. When the left and right pipes 18 are moved forwardly after folding the front legs 12 and the rear legs 14 in a parallel state as described above, the hand-pushing rod 15, the front side connecting bar 21, the rear side connecting bar 22 and the upper side connecting bar 24 are turned forwardly and the baby carriage can be folded more compactly as illustrated in FIG. 12.
In other words, the baby carriage can be folded into three parts. Additionally, casters of a conventional baby carriage are normally used in a “Caster Free” state to turn around caster columns by 360°. Accordingly, when folding the baby carriage as described above, it is necessary to fold the baby carriage after returning directions of the casters to straight advancing positions and locking the casters in the straight advancing positions by locking devices.
However, it is troublesome to operate casters and locking devices with a hand and/or a foot whenever folding the baby carriage. The baby carriage might be so far folded by force without returning the casters to the straight advancing positions, thus causing not only breakage of the baby carriage but also a baby carriage that looks poor when folded.